If you're used to organizing your notes with files and folders, Capacities can feel quite different at first.

The important shift is this: in Capacities, you don't decide where a note should live. You decide what kind of thing it is.

That change removes a lot of friction from note-taking.

Why folders become difficult

Folders seem simple at first, but they require repeated decisions.

Each time you create a new note, you have to decide where it belongs. Over time, that can become surprisingly heavy:

• Should this note go in Projects or Archive?
• Should these book notes live under one topic or another?
• Should this draft be grouped by topic, client, or status?

Folders are flexible when you set them up, but rigid once they exist. A file has one home, even if it would make sense in several places.

That creates friction in two ways:

1. You spend time deciding where something should go.
2. Future you has to remember that decision in order to find it again.

Many people eventually rely on search anyway, which is a good sign that folder structures do not scale well for thought.

A different approach in Capacities

Capacities is built around objects and object types, not files and folders.

Every note is an object, and every object has a type.

That means your main decision is no longer "Where should this live?" but "What kind of note is this?"

Examples:

• A meeting note becomes a Meeting object
• A person becomes a Person object
• A book note becomes a Book object
• A general note becomes a page

This is a simpler decision because it matches the content itself.

Why object types are useful

Object types do more than group notes, they also give your content structure.

If you create a Meeting object type, every meeting can have the same properties, such as date, attendees, or status. If you create a Book object type, every book can have author, rating, or reading status.

That means you don't need to rebuild the same structure every time you create a new note. The type carries that structure for you.

This is one of the key benefits of object types over folders: folders only store content, while object types help shape it.

Where tags fit in

If folders answered the question "Where does this belong?", tags answer a different question: "What is this related to?"

Tags are often the best replacement for topic-based folders because they let one object belong to several contexts at once.

A single page can be tagged with:

• a topic
• a project
• a status

So instead of forcing one note into one path, you can find it from several directions.

This is especially helpful for writing, project work, and research, where one piece of content is rarely about just one thing.

If you want a practical example of this workflow, read Capacities for writing.

Linking instead of filing

Another big difference is that Capacities helps you connect notes directly.

If you're writing a project brief and want to refer to a related meeting, a person, or a web link, you can simply link it into your note with @ or [[]].

This means context stays close to the work itself. Instead of remembering which folder something is in, you bring the relevant material into the note where you need it.

Over time this creates a network of useful connections instead of a tree of storage locations.

The role of the calendar

Capacities also adds time as another way to navigate your notes.

Your daily note gives you a natural place to capture ideas, resources, and unfinished thoughts without having to decide on a permanent location first.

This gives you another lightweight alternative to filing things away too early.

A simple translation

If you're moving from a folder-based tool, this is a helpful starting point:

• Document = page
• Folder = can map to an object type, a tag, or a collection depending on what that folder was doing
• File path = search, tags, links, and object types

This is not a perfect one-to-one mapping, but it is often enough to help the new model click.

FAQ

• Are object types just folders with a different name?
  No. Folders are storage locations. Object types define what kind of content something is, group that content automatically, and can give it structure through properties and layouts.
• Should I use tags instead of folders in Capacities?
  Very often for topics, statuses, and cross-cutting themes, yes. But some folders are better replaced by object types or collections. Tags are most useful when the same content should be reachable from several contexts at once. If you previously had folders for types of notes, such as all your meeting notes, that would map better to a Meeting object type.
• How do I recreate my old folder structure?
  Start by asking what each folder was doing:
  • If it grouped one recurring kind of content, it may become an object type.
  • If it grouped content by topic, status, or context across types, it may become a tag.
  • If it grouped a subset within one object type, it could become a collection, though queries may be an easier way to solve this automatically.
  
  Then create pages or other object types for the actual content itself.
• What should I use object types for?
  Use object types for recurring kinds of content with a shared structure, such as meetings, projects, books, people, or ideas.
• What should I use tags for?
  Use tags for themes, topics, statuses, and other connections that can span across different kinds of content.
• Do I still need search if I use object types and tags?
  Yes, and that is a good thing. In Capacities, search works together with object types, tags, and links. You are not depending on one exact path to find your notes again.